The Third Faction
by Sandstorm Inkwell
Summary: Prowler is a Captain in the Lunar Special Forces. His team, Meteor, is just one of many. However, that and his life will change when the discovery of a possible new kingdom will send Prowler in a race against his Solar Empire counterpart to find this kingdom and determine whether or not it's a threat to the Republic. /-RATING MAY INCREASE-\
1. Chapter 1

**User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)**

**Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y5R5-\**

**Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y5R6-\**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\**

_I am former Lunar Captain Prowler, also known by many other names acquired during my service to the Republic. _

_Service..._

_Such a simple word if you think about it. Service could mean so many things. The service of a waitress, service of a taxi, service of a tailor._

_Yet... when applied to conflict, it means so much more. Training, change, obedience, brotherhood, infantryponies, blood, death... sacrifice._

_What exactly is sacrifice? Is it going without your daily coffee because you are low on bits and want to treat your marefriend to a movie? Is it giving up one's life to protect what you think is right? Is it the ability to know when you must die so that others might live?_

_Is it knowing when to quit? When to finally, remove your helmet, set down your rifle, and say "enough"?_

_...I don't know. I may never know._

_All I know is my story. My story of the end times of the war. See, I was a soldier, that much is obvious. However, I wasn't just any random infantrypony. I was something else, something better._

_I was the Republic's first and last line of defense. Luna's sword and shield._

_I was a Night Shadow, a bane to the Solar Empire._

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-END AUDIO LOG-\**

* * *

Prowler looked around him at the five other ponies that stood in the metal compartment. They all wore the lightweight, navy blue body armor with a black undersuit that covered them from neck to tail. Even their hooves were covered. Hoods attached to the undersuit came up over their heads and a navy blue facemask covered their faces. Over their non-dominant eye was a black screen with white text.

Each of them were looking over the LPW-3 they had been equipped with. The Lunar Personal Weapon-Three was a sub-machine gun and, even by SMG standards, it was small. The clip, which ran along it's left side, was the entire length of the gun. The suppressor equipped to the end lengthened the black gun by a few more inches. For the unicorns in the squad, the bit had been removed since it would just get in their way. The rest of the squad had to grab the gun with their mouths and trigger it with their tongues.

Diffucult? Yes, but when that was the only way to do it and your life was on the line, you adapted fast.

Prowler didn't have to worry though as he was a unicorn himself, his dark blue horn poking from his hood. He had his SMG floating next to him in a dark blue field of magic. He was ready to go.

"Alright," Prowler began as he got the squad's attention, "Surprise, you know where we're going right?"

Surprise nodded, "Yeah Cap. Just make sure you guys cover my flank when we get there. This is going to take a lot out of me."

Prowler nodded before lifting a hoof to his ear, "Falling Star is a go. Repeat, Falling Star is a go."

"_Hard copy Meteor. Good luck, hope to see you at daybreak._"

Prowler lowered his hoof after their transport's pilot was finished talking, "Alright mares, get ready for the jump."

With that, five of the members of the squad (Prowler included) backed into a circle around Surprise. Each member had their tail resting on the unicorn and their guns pointed outward.

"Safeties off Meteor, we're likely to be going in hot. Remember, we go in, grab the target, and get the buck out," Prowler ordered. The clicking of safeties sounding through the group before Prowler brushed Surprise's horn with his tail. The signal to begin.

Surprise's horn began to glow the same dark blue as Prowler's did. It wasn't all that surprising since Luna's spell made them all the same colors for uniformity.

"Jumping in three...two...one..."

A blinding, blue flash overtook the squad. Luckily, they had closed their eyes so that when the light faded, they could see clearly. When the light did fade, the five squad members opened their eyes to see an empty, white metal room. Bright lights overhead lit up the room with a dazzling frenzy.

"Why the buck does every SE base have to be so bucking bright?" asked one of the mares in the squad, pronouncing 'SE' as 'see'.

"Because they worship the sun," answered one of the squad's other mare members.

"Quiet you two," Prowler hissed as he looked around the room. Finally, he saw a door and approached it, hearing one set of hoofsteps following him. _Good. There should only be one, _he thought to himself as he reached the door. Opening it, he poked his head and SMG out and swept the hallway outside. Seeing no Imperial troops, Prowler looked back at his squad to see Surprise laying on the ground on the verge of unconsciousness. The Captain couldn't blame him as he did just teleport five full-grown ponies almost sixty miles.

"Alright. Bale, you stay with Surprise. Make sure nopony gets to him, got it?" Prowler asked for confirmation. When he got a nod back from the Earth pony mare, Prowler nodded before continuing with, "Rest of you, on me."

With that, Prowler turned and entered the hallway. It only went to the left so that's where Prowler went, his SMG leading the way. The hallway, though, seemed endless as Prowler and the squad walked and walked and walked. He didn't dare run as the hoofsteps would give them away.

After what felt like an eternity, Prowler finally came upon a three-way intersection. Stopping, the Captain used both blinks and his more passive magic to get the HUD to open a map of the compound they were in. After manipulating it for a bit, the Captain continued again, going down the hallway to the right after scanning the hallway to the left. All that was to the left was a slipping Imperial guard, which Prowler hoped to avoid.

The squad trekked down this new hallway for a couple minutes before they came upon a metal door blocking their route. There was gap underneath the door and a keypad next to it. _Perfect._

"Gazer," Prowler whispered, "you're up."

Without a response, the mare known as Gazer moved up to the door and pulled out a snake-like device. Sliding one end under the door, she connected the other end to a pad on the wrist of her left foreleg. Looking at the pad, she moved the device back and forth. Silently, she unfurled one wing and curled all her feathers but one. Then, after a second, she closed her wing, retrieved the device, and stepped back.

"Cable, get it open," Prowler whispered again, "Quietly."

"Rog'," replied the stallion in a muffled whisper as he moved up to the door's keypad. Sitting, he let Prowler's magic take his SMG from his mouth before he grabbed the tools off his harness with his newly freed mouth. Using hooves and mouth, he unscrewed the keypad's casing to reveal the wires beneath it. Within seconds of that, there was a soft 'click'.

"Easy," Cable whispered after returning his tools before retrieving his gun. Prowler nodded to him before moving to the door and swinging it open as quietly as he could. _Lucky for me, the Imperials hate squeaky doors, _he thought to himself as the door was fully opened without a squeak. Seeing the Imperial guard in front of him, Prowler levitated his SMG to where it was barely a foot away from the guard's head. Then, without second thought, he pulled the trigger, allowing a burst of suppressed rounds to pass through the white pony's head and into the wall in front of her. Now dead, the pony collapsed to the floor, his blood spreading like a crimson pool.

"Alright Cable, get the data. Everypony else, secure the room," Prowler ordered as he stepped up to the corpse. Nudging the body with his hoof, Prowler looked at the holes in the back of her head. Satisfied that she was dead, he looked back at the door they had entered through to see the two mares flanking it. He took this as a sign that, that door was the only way in or out of this communications room.

Looking to the station, Prowler saw Cable typing away at the controls as a wire was connected from the station to the storage device on Cable's side. Seeing that he was busy, Prowler moved to the mares by the door and put a hoof to his ear.

"Bale, Prowler. How's Surprise?" he asked in a whisper.

"Prowler, Surprise. I'm charged and ready to roll when you get back," came the reply.

"Surprise, Prowler. Good, we're about done here. One Imp KIA on our end."

"Prowler, Bale. Two KIA on our end. Love birds trying to sneak off for a quick buck."

Prowler couldn't help but smile as he heard the soft chuckles in the room, "Bale, Prowler. Roger that. See you in a few. Out."

After the conversation, Prowler looked at Cable to see him standing by the station, shifting side to side.

"Cable?" Prowler asked. The tech pony looked back at him before looking at the station.

"It's downloading Cap," he whispered, "Forty seconds, tops."

Prowler nodded before taking a peek out the doorway. Down the hall, he could barely see the sleeping guard on the other side of the intersection. _If two fraternizing Solars could get past him, he shouldn't be on guard duty. _He thought to himself as he heard things being disconnected behind him.

"Done," he finally heard from Cable.

"Gazer, take point," he ordered. The mare nodded and stepped out, quickly followed by her wingpony. Prowler and Cable followed behind them, alternating on who walked backwards to cover their rear.

The walk back wasn't as long as the walk there. Reaching the intersection, the four turned and continued on the last part back. When they got to the storage room, they walked inside to find the mare and stallion dead in the middle of the room, their hooves wrapped around each other.

"Hey Cap," Surprise whispered as he and Bale walked from behind a pile of crates, his SMG lowering.

Prowler ignored the stallion as he sat down and put a hoof to his ear, "Raven, Meteor. Falling Star complete. Prepare to receive. Over."

"_Meteor, Raven. Ready to receive. Out._"

Prowler nodded to Surprise as everypony in the squad made contact with him in some form. Another blue flash and they were back in the metal compartment.

"_Welcome back colts and fillies,_" remarked the pilot over the intercom as the 'compartment' began to tilt and noticeably accelerate. The clicking of safeties and harnesses sounded as the squad attached their SMGs to their armor so they didn't have to hold them themselves.

"So," spoke Jagged, the sixth member of the team, "beers on Surprise?"

"Ha," weakly laughed said unicorn before he collapsed onto the floor in sleep. Prowler watched as Bale, who had removed her hood and facemask, rolled her eyes before marehandling Surprise onto a seat and strapped him in.

"_Alright passengers, welcome to Flight 43, aka Raven, on a non-stop flight to Onyx Base from Hell. We do thank you for flying with us and hope you do so again in the future. Approximate flight time is two and a half hours. Some turbulence is to be expected. Otherwise, sit back, and enjoy the flight._"

Prowler smirked at the pilot's antics and let out a chuckle when 'Nopony Gets Left Behind' by One Hoof Death Punch began to play over the speakers. Sitting down, Prowler removed his own hood and facemask. Closing his eyes, he let himself drift to sleep.

_Can't wait to get back, _was his last thought before succumbing to his exhaustion.

_**A/N: There we go. The beginning of my new story, The Third Faction. I thank you all who voted in the polls for voting.**_

_**Questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.**_

_**Oh! Before I forget. I am accepting a couple OC's for this story. If you got a pony OC (civvie or military) that you think can fit into the story, don't be afraid to send it my way by review or PM. I'll try my best to put them in.**_

_**Information needed for OC: Name, Age, Species, Gender, Appearance (to include cutie mark), History (a paragraph at least please), Personality, and Allegiance (New Lunar Republic, Solar Empire, or Neutral).**_


	2. Chapter 2

**User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)**

**Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y5R7-\**

**Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y5R8-\**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\**

_After mission activities varied a lot. Being a soldier didn't leave room for set schedules. You may be able to sleep but you may be just as likely to be sent into a firefight._

_This mission though, I remember our CO patting us on the back and sending us into town for the weekend. As long as we were back Monday evening, we could do whatever the hay we wanted to do._

_Now, my squad was close-knit..._

_...really close-knit._

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-END AUDIO LOG-\**

* * *

The clanging of landing legs on asphalt jolted Prowler from his sleep. The unicorn looked around as he got off his seat and stretched. Around him, Meteor squad was also stretching out their sore muscles as they got ready to move again. Even Surprise was up and about as the door to the cockpit slid open, revealing a Pegasus mare in a skin-tight suit and a helmet held under one wing.

"Welcome home fillies and gentlecolts," she said with a smirk as she walked to the back of the craft. Meteor squad was quick to follow her as she hit a button on the side wall at the back. With the whining of gears, the entire back 'wall' of the craft began to lower, allowing moonlight to seep into the bay.

Night was the only time they could feel safe as the sun was Celestia's Eye. When it was out, she could see all that it shined down upon. Or so the NLR posters and telecasts said anyway. Nopony knew for sure if it was true but the entire Republic switched to being nocturnal beings as a precaution. Prowler didn't mind as he never really liked the sun in the first place. It was too bright.

When the ramp clanged against the asphalt pad, the seven occupants of the Hawk-class dropship walked out into the comforting night. Lowering his hood and facemask, Prowler took in a deep breath of the cool night air before removing the HUD interface from in front of his eye.

After the intake of air, he became aware of a pony in a standard dark blue uniform standing at the edge of the pad. When Prowler took note of her, the mare walked forward to the SpecOps pony, saluted, and spoke:

"Sir, Waning Colonel Grit is awaiting you and your team's arrival. Please, follow me."

With that, she turned and started to walk toward a cluster of buildings away from the pads. Looking back, Prowler gave his squad and pilot a questioning look before motioning them all to follow him as he, in turn, followed the messenger mare.

To summon the team right after the meeting for a face-to-face debrief was very unlike Grit. Usually, she just sent a runner to grab anything the team collected and to inform Prowler that the Waning Colonel expected a report on her desk the next day. Even then, she didn't ask much.

However, Prowler knew to not question the orders of the WC. In fact, the Lunar Captain was sure that Grit was doing this to try to advance herself to a full moon Colonel. _As long as she doesn't screw with my squad, I'm okay, _thought Prowler as the messenger entered the amphitheater.

Following her inside, Prowler first saw the rows and rows of seats that faced the stage. On said stage was the Waning Colonel herself. She wore her black dress uniform with the polished waning moon rank tab on her collars. A blue and black cord was attached to her shoulder and went underneath her right foreleg. Under the black coat was a navy tie and a dark gray dress shirt. Her silver name tag sat polished on her right breast while a couple shiny medals adorned her left breast.

Her flank, and cutie mark, was covered by the traditional navy blue officer's cloak of the Lunar Army. A golden trim decorated the edge of the cloak. Her black hair was in a tight ponytail as her navy blue coat looked to be freshly washed and brushed. Finally, her dress cap sat on the podium in the middle of the stage.

Compared to her, Meteor team looked like savages in their dented, scratched, dirty, and blood-stained armor. As a sign of pride, Meteor never washed their armor or changed out it's plates. To them, each dent, scratch, and blood drop told a tale of survival and camaraderie. It told of their life in this hellish Equestria.

"Ah, Captain, welcome back," spoke Grit with a very upper-class accent. She held her chin high and looked at the squad through partly closed eyes, as if they didn't warrant her full attention.

"Hey!" Cable proclaimed, drawing Prowler's attention to him. The mare who had fetched the squad, a unicorn, had disconnected the storage device from Cable's harness and floated it to a spot next to the Waning Colonel.

"The objective is in this, I presume?" she asked as she poked the device with a manicured hoof. Prowler bit back a comment before he replied with a simple:

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, good," she stated as she made a motion to the unicorn aide. The aide then took the device in her magic and walked from the room with it hovering over her back. When the aide was gone, Grit continued, "You did good Captain. You made Luna proud today. As a reward for your actions, you and your squad will get a weekend off duty. You are dismissed."

"Ma'am," Prowler stated as he nodded his head before turning and walking out of the building with his squad in front of him. He could feel the irritation radiating from Grit and couldn't help but smirk. That smirk stayed when they finally exited the building and the door closed.

"Not saluting Goddess Grit? For shame Prowler," quipped the pilot, Jetstream, as she swatted Prowler's nose with her tail.

"By Luna, I dislike her," groaned Jagged as the seven ponies began to move toward the co-ed barracks facility.

"I think we all do," Bale replied with a chuckle.

"That aide... she touched my stuff..." remarked Cable slowly and ruefully.

"Shh, it's alright Cable," cooed Gazer as she wrapped a wing around Cable, playing along with his mock frustration. Cable smirked and pushed Gazer away, causing the entire squad to laugh a little.

"So, what's the plan for the rest of the night?" Surprise asked as the seven finally made it inside the barracks and began to strip off their equipment. When they stripped it off, they instantly put it into their locker.

"I don't know, but I think I heard something about you supplying the beer," Jetstream commented from her own locker. This caused a laugh to circulate through the group with the exception of Surprise.

"Let's go clubbing!" exclaimed Bale as she shut her locker before putting her black beret atop her head. On the front of the beret was the NLR emblem: a blue, sideways crescent moon with a pair of wings and a spire going from the middle of the moon to hold up star that was level with the top of the wings. Only, with the beret, the spire was changed to a sword with the mouthgrip poking out underneath the moon and the star was changed to a purple shield. Underneath it was a blue scroll with the phrase 'Semper Fidelis Luna' in all capital letters in black thread.

_Always Faithful to Luna, _Prowler translated in his head as he closed his locker and set a beret atop his own head.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Prowler stated before adding, "Unless there's any exceptions?"

Of course, there was none. So, with much jovial energy, the seven ponies left the barracks and walked across the base to the bus stop. Along the way, they passed many other ponies. All of them gave the seven a wide berth. Nopony really wanted to upset a Night Shadow... or their pilot.

Reaching the bus stop, the group didn't have to wait long for the large vehicle to pull up and open it's doors. When the group was on board, the doors closed and the bus took off to head to nearby Manehatten.

Finally, the squad arrived at one of the major clubs in the city. The bass beats could be felt all the way outside of the building. When the bouncer saw the coat color and berets, she motioned for them to head right inside, much to the irritation of the other ponies.

Once inside, Prowler felt himself assaulted by the wave of bass that shook the entire room. However, a smile was glued to his face as he led his squad to a nearby table that was big enough to hold all of them. As soon as everypony was seated, all conversation stopped and eyes glanced around the table.

"Berets down!" Jagged shouted, grabbing her beret and slamming it onto the table. Hurriedly, the other six ponies grabbed their berets and also slammed them onto the table, trying not to be last. Surprise took his beret with his magic to move it to the table. His concentration was destroyed, though, when a wing hit him in the face. His destroyed concentration caused the beret to fall to the floor and caused him to lose the little game.

"Gazer! The hay?" he shouted as he picked up his beret with his magic and tossed it onto the table while also looking at the pegasus that caused him to lose his concentration.

"What? I saw a cute stallion and... well, you know how my wings get," she explained with an innocent smile. The smile broke when Surprise pushed her off her chair. Giving a yelp, the pegasus fell to the floor, causing the group to burst into laughter.

Prowler was interrupted from it as he felt somepony tug at his leg. He turned his head to see Jagged trying to pull him to the dance floor.

"Come on Prowl, let's dance," she said with a smile. Smiling back, Prowler got off the stool and moved off into the crowd of dancing ponies. Once they were in the middle of it, the two began to move in sync to the music and each other. As they danced, Jagged got closer and closer to Prowler until they were nuzzled up against each other, still moving in time to the music.

When the song was in it's ending notes, Jagged put her lips against Prowler's and locked him in a kiss. The stallion was quick to return it before separating and looking into Jagged's blue eyes as a very powerful and uprising beat began to blast away from the speakers.

"I love you," she mouthed as the ponies around them began to be carried away by the beat.

"And I love you," Prowler mouthed back before the lost themselves to the music, joining the mass of frenzied, sweating ponies around them.

_**A/N: So ends another chapter. I hope y'all like this insight into their "normal" lives.**_

_**Questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.**_

_**By the way: To the guest reviewer from Chapter One. No, they are not cyborgs. It was an external Heads-Up Display.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)**

**Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y5R9-\**

**Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R0-\**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\**

_Did Meteor receive flak for the "fraternization" that occurred? Buck yeah it did. From almost everypony. However, it came the heaviest from "Goddess" Grit; that two-bit flank feeler, good for nothing..._

_Sorry. Where was I? Ah, right: the flak. Ahem._

_Chapter One, Article Seventeen of the Lunar Military Handbook states:_

"_Members of the same combat unit should not, for any reason, take part in sexual, or otherwise romantic, activities with any other member of their combat unit. Should such activities be performed, the violators may be charged with court-martial after three warnings against such actions. Should such actions disrupt the combat effectiveness of the unit, the violators will be immediately separated and both violators will be sent to separate Penal Battalions to serve out the rest of their time in the service."_

_Then there's:_

_Chapter Thirteen, Article Four of the Lunar Military Handbook states:_

"_A unit's Commanding Officer may not pursue sexual relations with any members of their unit under threat of immediate court-martial. Should actions continue or cause disruption of unit effectiveness, the violator will be stripped of their officer rank and sent to a Penal Battalion until they are no longer fit for duty."_

_So, why were no disciplinary actions taken against my squad? Well I could use this as defense:_

_Lunar Executive Command Three Dash One Dash Two Three states:_

"_Any disciplinary actions, that pertain to issues not threatening a unit's combat effectiveness, against the members of any Night Shadow special operations team is to be seen as null and void due to the increasing need for these highly skilled and highly trained soldiers."_

_We always made sure that our relationships stayed off the battlefield. To have impaired combat efficiency would have gone against everything that Meteor squad stood for. We had worked to be the best of the best._

_Deep down inside, though, I knew that there were ulterior motives to not trying to reprimand us._

_Grit always had an ulterior motive..._

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-END AUDIO LOG-\**

* * *

"I hate all of you," Surprise complained as he sat with his hooves crossed. Not even Bale's hoof sliding over his confetti popper cutie mark could remove the scorn from his face. Giving up, the earth mare sighed and sat up in her seat before chugging down the rest of her bottle of beer.

Two green eyes appeared over Surprise's right shoulder, startling the stallion somewhat.

"Come ons Shurprise... you-you need t' loosen up," slurred Jetstream as she took a swig of her own beer.

"No," Surprise began, pushing the drunken mare off his shoulder, "What I need are the six ponies at this table to quit spending my bits."

Jetstream looked at him for a couple seconds, just blinking before she suddenly looked toward the bar. As if by magic, she seemed to sober up some, "Oh, cutie three o'clock..."

With that, she was gone from the table, her wind adorned flank bouncing more than it needed to as she tried to saunter up to the poor stallion she had spotted at the bar.

"You should seriously lighten up though," Gazer commented, glancing at Surprise as she watched Jetstream try to slur her way through a conversation with a rather cute stallion at the bar. His coat and mane told her that he was Lunar Military but the neon blue in his mane suggested something other than standard infantry. The crosshair and blue star on his flank made it look like he was a marksman of some kind.

"Buck off, you're the reason why I have to pay for these drunks," Surprise replied as he remembered that Gazer's wing had knocked back his beret before he could have it on the table.

"Hey!" Cable shouted drunkenly as he put both hooves on the table and looked at Surprise, who was surprised at the actions of the usually quiet stallion, "Don't talks t' her likes that!"

"Cable, dear, you're drawing attention to yourself," Gazer whispered as she tried to pull the stallion back down into his seat. Some of the closer patrons were looking at the table but soon dismissed it and went back to drinking, dancing, kissing, or whatever act they had been performing at the time they had been disturbed.

"What?" he asked as he lazily looked at Gazer. His lips curved into a smile as he tried to lean to Gazer, "You're a pretty pony."

_WHAM!_

"Hello floor..." Cable muttered before passing out. He had leaned over too far and caused himself to lose balance, ending up with him being on the floor at the bottom of Gazer's chair with his flank high in the air. Gazer chuckled and rolled her eyes as she lightly hit the cables on his flank.

"Cable?" she asked softly. The only response she got was the rest of his body tipping over and landing on the floor with a 'thud'. This elicited a round of laughter from the squad and nearby patrons. After the laughter subsided, Gazer slid off her seat, grabbed Cable, and flung him over her back. With her coltfriend over her back, the mare put on her beret before putting Cable's under her right wing.

"Well, guess we should be off to the hotel for the day," she said as she waved goodbye to everypony.

"Sleep well Gazer. We'll see you tomorrow evening?" Jagged asked, waving back at the pegasus.

Gazer nodded as she walked backwards, "Yeah!" she called out before she turned around and disappeared into the crowd of ponies near the door.

"Why'd she leave?" Jetstream asked as she returned to the table with the stallion beside her.

"Cable passed out," Prowler explained with a chuckle as he took a sip of his beer. He then motioned with his beer to the newcomer, "Who's the lucky colt this time Jet?"

"Name's Ice Mist," replied the stallion, Ice Mist, as he held a hoof out to Prowler. Levitating his beer out of the way, Prowler put his hoof against Ice's and shook it before sitting back. His other foreleg was around Jagged, who was leaning into him.

"Prowler. This is Jagged and that's Surprise, Bale," he pointed at the two, "and Gazer just walked out with Cable over her back."

"Nice to meet all of you," he greeted as he took Cable's old seat, Jet sitting close beside him.

"What unit you from?" Jagged asked. Prowler glanced over at Surprise to see him trying to keep Bale from falling over in her seat.

"Third Lunar Recon. Sniper. You?"

"First Special Operations. Meteor Squad," Jagged stated.

"Your Night Shadows?" he asked, glancing at Bale and Surprise, who were both deeply blushing as they whispered to each other, before he looked at Jet.

"Hey, I'm just a pilot," she stated, raising her hooves defensively.

Prowler chuckled, "We don't look much like now, but we are."

Ice shook his head as he looked at Prowler with a blush and a nervous smile. He rubbed the back of his head as he levitated a beer to his lips and took a sip.

"Sorry. Just never really seen Shadows before," he said with a small chuckle.

"Don't worry Ice," Jet assured him while she wrapped a foreleg over his shoulders and scooted close, "your reaction wasn't at all like Miss Starlight's."

"The newsmare?" he asked for clarification, looking from Jet to Prowler, who chuckled with Jagged at the memory.

"Ya know, in hindsight, we probably should have toned back a little bit on the whole 'war is hell' thing," Prowler speculated.

"And clean our armor," Jagged added with another chuckle.

"That too."

"We're off," Surprise suddenly spoke, drawing everypony's attention to the pair. They both wore their berets, "See ya tomorrow night."

"Bye," Jagged said before a blue flash enveloped Bale and Surprise and took them away from the club.

"It's getting kinda late," Prowler stated, looking at a watch on Jagged's wrist. The two then grabbed and put on their berets.

"We're gonna stay a bit longer," Jet stated as she had her legs around Ice, "We'll see ya tomorrow night though."

"Oh," Jagged suddenly piped up as she stood, "We? Ice isn't a disposable?"

The only response she got was a chuckle from Prowler, a confused glance from Ice to Jet, and a glare from Jet.

"Good luck and good day Ice," Jagged said before Prowler and her began to walk to the exit, Prowler letting loose a big yawn as he did. Jagged's broken glass cutie mark rubbed against Prowler's paw print cutie mark. Looking over, Prowler saw a very familiar look on his marefriend's face.

"I'm not getting sleep anytime soon, am I?" he asked. Jagged closed the distance between the two and planted a kiss on the Captain's lips. When she drew back, a smile graced both their faces.

"Nope," she replied playfully.

"Didn't think so," Prowler replied with a huge smile. Using his tail, he swatted Jagged's flank, earning a squeak from the mare. With that, the stallion began laughing and tore off into the night in the direction of the hotel. Hearing yelling behind him, he didn't slow as he continued running, the smile still plastered to his face.

_**A/N: WHOO! 'Nother chapter. I got three days of no school coming up so I should be able to update all of my stories at least once.**_

_**Ice Mist belongs to DARKdeathcaller.**_

_**Questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)**

**Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R1-\**

**Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R2-\**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\**

_Now, I knew that even while Jagged and me made full use of our hotel room the war still continued. Unbeknownst to me, however, was that a Solar SpecOps team was currently in the Crystal Empire. Their objective was an arms maker named Nova who had connections to many terrorist and mercenary organizations that had formed throughout the war._

_The most prominent connection the arms maker had was with Guardians of Harmony terrorist group. Hmph, more like the Champions of Discord. Anyway, the Guardians of Harmony were all skilled saboteurs. Their goal was to cause the war to cease by causing so much damage to each nation's war industry that they wouldn't be able to continue._

_That wasn't the most prominent thing about the Guardians, though. Instead, it was their usage of hoof-fired weapons (loaded with Less-Than-Lethal ammo, of course). Why was this big? Well, when a Lunar, or Solar, soldier wanted anything bigger than a SMG, they'd have to don a battle saddle to hold the weapon. A pressure bit would extend in front of their mouths. Biting down on the bit would fire the weapon. The fact that it's on the pony's side would mean that they'd have to expose at least half of their body to fire._

_The weapons Nova made, as we know now, linked with the user's natural passive magic emitters in their hooves. The link would allow the hoof to function like a Dragon's hand. However, only Nova knew the spell to do this._

_So... the Solar Empire had decided to risk pissing off the neutral Crystal Empire to get him._

_Stupid Solars._

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-END AUDIO LOG-\**

* * *

"_Target's about twenty feet to your left Deimos._"

"_I see him Cerberus. Get the cut off Odysseus._"

Solar Colonel Perseus, a bark brown Earth stallion with a light brown mane looked over the crowd of crystal ponies with his green eyes. His cloak swished behind him as he moved through the crowd toward the market, where Deimos and Fireteam Bravo currently was.

"Push him into an alley first. We don't need any witnesses," he whispered as he moved through the crowd, knowing that the rest of Fireteam Alpha was following behind him somewhere in the crowd.

"_Wilco. Deimos, push my way. Odysseus, move to block him off._"

"_Pushing,_" Deimos replied. Odysseus had yet to speak but that was more that he couldn't than because he didn't. He had taken a round to the throat only on. Even before that, though, he wasn't very talkative.

Perseus continued to listen as he moved through the crowd. He couldn't help but wish that the team had brought their HUDs with them. However, that would've given them away as Solar agents right off the bat. The cloak and non-sparkly coat already drew too much attention to him.

"_Got him into the alley. Odysseus, converge and contain,_" ordered Cerberus over the squad's comm system.

Perseus allowed a smile to cross his face. Soon they'd have the Target in custody. _Then the hard part begins, _Perseus thought to himself, his smile having faded. After they got the target, they'd have to transport him through the Crystal City to the train station where their contact will then stow him away.

"_Gun!_"

The cry from Cerberus echoed in Perseus's ears. _Buck! _He mentally shouted as he began to gallop through the crowd to Bravo's position. He pushed ponies out of his way as he rushed past them. The stallion looked back to see the two other members of Alpha doing the same.

"_Bravo is all green but Target is now moving eastbound on Imperial Boulevard,_" Cerberus reported after a couple seconds of silence.

"Go. Try to push him to the outskirts. We'll trap him against the shield," Perseus ordered as he turned right on Eastern Palace Cross. EPC ran alongside Imperial Boulevard, which meant that Perseus and his team could help push the Target to the outskirts. There, they'd hopefully push him against the shield dome that covered the city. The shield dome kept out the blizzard that endlessly raged across the rest of the Northern Lands.

"Deimos and Odysseus, move one street North and haul flank to push him east. Ares, jump over to Imperial and help Cerberus," Perseus commanded in rapid fire as he continued pushing past the sparkling ponies, "He wouldn't dare pull a gun while on a main road."

_I hope... _he thought grimly.

One road north from Perseus, Cerberus was chasing after the dark red unicorn stallion. _For such a small unicorn, he's pretty fast, _he thought to himself as he pushed through a group of talking crystal ponies. He thought back to the alleyway. They had, had the older stallion trapped between the three of them. Then the stallion pulled a suppressed pistol from his dark red cloak and aimed it at Odysseus, causing the soldier to dive for cover. With that, the Target had taken off without a second glance at the Solar team.

Said stallion had weaved himself through a throng of crystal ponies who stood in the road, looking at a store's display. Cerberus reached the crowd and had to slow to be able to shove his way through. As he did, he looked at what they were staring at. It was a TV that was showing the Crystal Empire News Network. On the screen was an attractive crystal mare sitting behind a desk. Also on the screen, in the corner, was an image that was split in half with the Solar Empire flag on one side and the NLR flag on the other.

"-plagues Equestria. Both aggressor states show no sign of stopping until the other lays in ruins. May the Crystal Heart someday reach their souls. In other news, Princess Cadence-"

Finally getting freed of the crowd, Cerberus lost sight of the screen but gained sight of the road ahead. It was clearer on this side of the crowd, allowing the Solar soldier to spot the dark red stallion still galloping down the street. Cursing under his breath, Cerberus continued after him at full pace.

"_Cerberus?_" came Perseus's voice over the comm.

"Still eastbound, sir. Road's cleared though, I'm gaining ground," Cerberus reported. His report wasn't a lie as he found that he was slowly getting closer and closer to the Target. Of course, he also noticed that he was entering a more run-down neighborhood.

Suddenly, the Target swung a left.

"Target is now northbound!" Cerberus reported as he pushed his legs to get him to the road so he could follow the stallion.

"_We're on him,_" Deimos reported, "_Now eastbound on Paradise Road._"

Deimos, whose navy blue coat made him look like a Lunar, pumped his legs as he and Odysseus galloped side-by-side after the dark red stallion. As they passed a side-street, they were joined by Cerberus, who had Ares right on his tail.

"Celestia damn it! How is he this fast?" Ares cursed as the four charged down the semi-deserted street. Deimos couldn't help but agree. His profile stated he was about forty and unicorn's weren't well-known for physical feats.

"Just shut up and keep running," Cerberus barked as he pulled slightly ahead of the four. Sparks danced off of Cerberus's mechanic left forehoof. The white coated stallion suddenly found himself skipping across the asphalt, his cloak following him, as more rounds pounded into the pavement around the four. Thinking quick, Deimos rushed out and grabbed Cerberus by the scruff of the neck with his teeth. As he dragged the stallion back to cover, he felt the bullets zipping past and could see the flashes in the windows.

"Ambush!" Ares yelled as he dived behind a staircase. _Little late, _Deimos thought to himself as he finally got Cerberus and himself into an alleyway. Pushing away Cerberus's cloak, the medic looked him over to see that the only thing damaged was Cerberus's mechanical hoof. _And I'm no mechanic._

Seeing as he couldn't do anything, Deimos pulled the suppressed pistol from Cerberus's hidden holster. Holding it in his mouth, Deimos leaned around the corner to fire at the ambushers. When he looked around the corner, though, there was nothing. No clouds thrown up by rounds, no flashes, nothing.

Spitting out the pistol, Deimos sat and put a hoof to the earbud in his right ear.

"Sir, this is Deimos, we lost him in the ambush. Cerberus took a hit to his synthetic but he's good besides a few scrapes," he reported, as he looked across the street to see Odysseus and Ares trotting over to him.

"_Buck,_" Perseus cursed softly, "_Roger that. Get Cerberus on his remaining three hooves and let's get back to the safehouse. Crystal Police are bound to show up at any moment._"

"Roger that Colonel," Deimos replied before he stood and returned the pistol to Cerberus's holster. Seeing as how the stallion was still conscious, Deimos helped him to his hooves and provided as a support for the pony as he hobbled along.

"At least we know the general location of his hideout," Ares intoned as Odysseus and him joined Deimos and Cerberus.

"Yeah. Next time we go after him though-" Cerberus stopped as he hissed in pain when his cloak raked against his scratched up skin,

"It'll be hard and fast."

_**A/N: And there's an insight as to the Solar side of all this.**_

_**Nova belongs to Lightning the Alicorn.**_

_**The entire Solar Squad (besides the informant) belongs to Chief Wolfee.**_

_**If any of my OC contributors have any concerns with how I have portrayed their characters, just shoot me a PM and I'll either explain or rectify it.**_

_**For everypony else: Questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)**

**Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R3-\**

**Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R4-\**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\**

_The Solar team they sent? The file on them was full of black pages. Basically everything about them was secret... at the time. Now we know that they were called 'Titans' and each one's 'name' was the name of a god from one of the ancient pony civilizations._

_They were to the Solars what the Night Shadows were to the Republic. The Titans were their best soldiers. However, a couple flaws did persist in their ranks. First: the group consisted of only Earth ponies. This kept them from performing any mission that required a magical or aerial touch._

_Second: They were all male. This caused the outfit to be small in size by nature as mares did, and still do, outnumber stallions on about a three to one ratio._

_Many argue that those two things made the Titans stronger and more suited to the tasks given to them by Solar Command. Others argue that the lack of Titan versatility limited their combat effectiveness._

_Me? I think that they were great warriors. Their service record confirms that. However, I also think that should the Titans have taken in unicorns for their teleportation or pegasi for their flight, well... I may be six feet under right now instead of sitting here._

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-END AUDIO LOG-\**

* * *

"-the shooting was reported to Crystal Police by one Luminescent Silver. Silver was able to tell the police that the shooting took place between two 'plain' groups. Unfortunately, that's all she could report as the gunfire forced her to take cover and the aggressors were gone by the time she rose her head from cover. Police Chief Seer was unavailable for comment on the incident."

With a flicker, the screen died, causing Ares to look up and back at the pony standing behind him.

"I was watching that," he said simply as he laid on the pristine, teal colored couch.

"Plains? That's what they call us?" Kushiel asked, ignoring Ares. The dark tan pony then tossed the remote onto the couch before walking away. Four doors led out of the main area of the apartment they were staying in. Three of the doors led to bedrooms. Two to each, leaving the seventh to sleep on the couch. Ares again thanked Celestia that Deimos had drawn the short straw.

"This is because I accidentally nudged your bag isn't it?" Ares asked the retreating figure. He got no answer as the engineer pony entered his shared room and closed the door. Ares huffed in reply to the silence as he looked back at the dark TV. The ash colored stallion wasn't perturbed by much though. This was lucky for the rest of the squad as he was the one who normally had the flamethrower.

_Wouldn't want the guy who wields fire to go crazy inside a building, _he thought with a chuckle before reaching out to grab the remote. As the tip of his hoof brushed the remote, a navy blue hoof swiped it away from him as the owner of said hoof plopped down on the free couch cushion. The TV flickered back on, showing the ending of the report. It didn't stay long though as Deimos started flipping through the channels.

"Deimos, you better not be going to _that_ channel," Ares stated, looking at the navy blue medic with heated eyes.

"I see nothing wrong with it," he replied with a smirk as he continued to flip through the channels.

"Everything is wrong with it! It's a mare's show for Celestia's sake!" Ares paused as he put on an inquisitive face and looked Deimos up and down, his face inching closer as he did. The navy blue stallion ignored it until the pyro's face was about four inches from his own.

"What?" he shouted, looking at Ares. With the length of his snout, their noses were almost brushing against each other, even with Deimos leaning his head back.

"You're not actually a mare are you?" Ares asked seriously. Deimos blinked as his mind tried to comprehend the question that had just been asked to him.

"I am not a mare," he finally replied. The ash colored stallion kept his head at the same spot for a couple more seconds before nodding.

"Alright," he said as he drew his head back, "I still think it's stupid."

A familiar theme song then came from the TV, causing Ares to close his eyes, sigh, and drop his face onto the couch.

"Well, too bad. My bed, my show we watch," Deimos countered as he turned to the TV to catch the ending of the theme for _My Little Humans: Friendship is Technology_.

"I hate you," muttered Ares through the cushion.

"No you don't," Deimos replied, "Not shush."

Ares raised his head and looked at the screen to see dull colored bi-pedal beings standing in what looked to be a lab of some sort. They were all females besides a younger male that was apparently an assistant to the one in charge of the lab-like place.

"I'm done," he said simply as he got off of the couch and walked to the kitchen.

"Oh! The new one's on!" Ares heard Cerberus shout. The pyro sighed again as he rummaged through the cabinets, trying to push the sound of the TV out of his mind. Finding a loaf of bread, the pony took out two slices before he returned the loaf. Armed with bread, he rummaged through the cabinets again before pulling out a container of peanut butter. Opening the container, the pony looked at it, the bread, and back again. Shrugging, he shook the container bother slices until a nice glop of peanut butter sat on each.

Taking the slices, he balanced on his hindlegs and walked. It was difficult but the ash colored pony soon reached his goal. With a chuckle as the only warning, the pony brought the slices, peanut butter first, down on his unsuspecting victims.

"Ah!" shouted Deimos as the bread smashed into his face. Cerberus, however, dodged the attack, causing the peanut butter bread to smack into the back of the couch.

"Quit your being colts and get your gear!" Perseus shouted, halting Cerberus before he could pounce on Ares. With a glare that promised payback, Cerberus walked to his room to get his gear on. Ares shrugged before he walked to his own room, leaving Perseus alone with a peanut butter covered Deimos.

"Can somepony get me a towel?"

The sound of a hoof making contact with a face was not unheard by the navy blue stallion.

_**A/N: Okay, I MAY have stretched the line with Chief Wolfee's characters. In my defense, this does pertain to downtime and I went by what he gave me as their personalities so... yeah. I apologize for the lack of action but that will come next chapter when they go after Nova.**_

_**Questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.**_

_**Solar Squad (Titans) belongs to Chief Wolfee.**_


	6. Chapter 6

**User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)**

**Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R5-\**

**Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R6-\**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\**

_What else is there to say about the incident? I don't know. I don't even know why I'm doing this, honestly. To 'preserve the past'? Ha. Why would anypony want to preserve that dark time? What is there to learn from that time of war and bloodshed?_

_The evils of hate? Perhaps._

_...perhaps._

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-END AUDIO LOG-\**

_**[-INSERT LINE BREAK-]**_

The wind blew through the empty streets as the lightpost struggled to light up the dark in a pitiful mockery of day. Stores were closed, curtains drawn, and doors locked. In the light of day, the Crystal City was the friendliest city on the planet. In the dark of night though, it was just as unwelcoming as every other city.

That didn't bother the seven ponies that moved down the street. From shadow to shadow they darted, their cloaks flowing behind them and their heads covered by hoods. A faint yellow light shone from the hoods over what would be their right eyes. They were organized, quick shadows in the night, looking for any they may spot them to be predators hunting prey.

The seven shadows were moving to the one building that still showed signs of activity in this clustered section of the city. It was a warehouse that took up an entire block of the section. Darkened shapes of ponies stood on the roof, their eyes looking outward at the city below them. On the north-east corner of the building, two mares stood watch.

One, a unicorn, held an assault rifle in a faint pink glow while her pegasus partner sat on her haunches with a rifle held in her hooves. The pegasus' mouth opened wide as a yawn escaped her throat.

"Geez Loop, tired much?" asked the unicorn with a smirk.

"Shut up Trick," replied the pegasus after she finished yawning, "I hate these night shifts."

"Well," began Trick, "if you didn't spend the day in a stallion's bed then you'd be ready for the night shift."

"At least I can get some whenever I want," Loop responded, bringing a frown to Trick's face. With a wet slap, the frown was replaced by a mass of outward moving blood, bone, and brain matter. Loop's mind raced to process this new development. It didn't get far. When the first droplet of blood touched Loop's fur, her head similarly exploded in a gruesome display of violence. The only noise throughout the whole ordeal were the two corpses dropping to the roof.

Were the two mares still alive, they may have seen the six shadows that raced to the building after their demise. Reaching the corner, the shadows soundlessly split into two groups of three with one going west while the second went south along the walls. Both groups stopped when they reached a door, the shadows forming up around them for a breach.

With unnerving synchronization, one pony from both groups opened their respective door while the other two rushed inside, quickly downing the sentries before they could raise an alarm. Once inside, both groups shed their cloaks to reveal white armor with yellow highlights over a black undersuit. Strapped to their right sides by battle harnesses were suppressed carbines.

With final checks accomplished, the groups then began the rigorous task of going through the warehouse: room by room.

"Door coming up on the right," Perseus whispered just loud enough for the comm unit around his neck to pick up, "Achilles, take up position by the door. I'll breach, Kushiel clear."

Two green lights lit up on the side of his HUD, indication that the two ponies with him understood the order. With following silence, the three ponies moved into position by the door. While Achilles faced down the hall, gun at the ready, Perseus and Kushiel took up positions on either side of the door.

Using his hoof, Perseus turned the handle and pushed open the door. As quiet as a mouse, Kushiel slid into the darkened room, his HUD automatically switching to thermal to mark out the numerous sleeping forms in the room. With a flash of his yellow indication light, Perseus came in after him to see the same scene. There were at least twenty ponies in the room, some of which looked to be crystal ponies.

Just then, Perseus' comm came to life, _"A1, B1, got a barracks here. Children present. Orders?"_

_Children? Here? _Perseus thought to himself, frowning in confusion. Looking around the room he was currently in, he saw that some of the heat signatures were too small to be adults. _Why would they let children stay here?_

"_Perseus? Orders?"_

Perseus swallowed a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, "Kill 'em all." _May Celestia forgive me._

A short pause before, _"Roger."_

The muffled firing of a carbine caused Perseus' head to snap to Kushiel, who was already carrying out his CO's order and putting a single round into each sleeping head. Pushing aside the dark thoughts, Perseus moved up to a heat signature and looked down at it, the carbine's harness silently adjusting the aim of the weapon to follow it's owner's sight.

Ignoring the size of the signature, Perseus took the trigger bit in his mouth and clenched his jaw. With a whisper, the carbine fired and Perseus watched as the signature spasmed before it began to cool. Tears threatened to come from his eyes but he forced them back. _I have a job to do, _he scolded his emotions. He knew that the emotions would return though... they always did.

After the slow, grueling job of dispatching the barrack's inhabitants, Perseus led Alpha team down the hall and away from the room. Through the winding hallways of the building's office space they stalked, dispatching the patrolling sentries with little trouble. Finally, they came upon a pair of double doors that were marked 'Warehouse Entrance'.

"B1, A1, what's your location, over?"

"_In cover inside the warehouse. Hostile presence is strong, over."_

_They're already in? _"Roger, we're at a pair of double doors. Can you see it?"

"_Wait one... got it. Approximately six tangos on other side of door. No cover. Advise hot breach or finding alternate route."_

Perseus looked back at the two members of his fireteam to see them waiting patiently, "Do you have visual of the target?"

"_Negative but we do have visual of an office on the other side of us. Hostile presence is heavy around it."_

"Roger. We'll take that as a good sign. Odysseus, you got five minutes to relocate to cover the western doors. If he tries to escape out a back door, put one in his hindlegs."

A green light flashed in Perseus's HUD as an acknowledgment from the silent sniper.

"Alpha, prepare for hot breach," Perseus ordered, moving to one side of the doors. Kushiel moved to the other side while Achilles formed up behind Perseus. The minutes ticked by slowly, allowing Perseus's mind to drift unwillingly. Though all he saw was the fluctuations of heat, he could imagine the sleeping foal in his mind.

He could imagine the happy dreams that the foal was most assuredly having. He could imagine the bullet manifesting itself as some sort of evil in those dreams, tormenting the foal in it's last seconds of life.

Before his brain could drag him down any further, the blinking of a green light drew his attention. Looking at his HUD's clock, he saw that four and a half minutes had passed.

"Breach," he whispered, knowing the hellstorm that awaited on the other side of the doors. Achilles stepped from behind Perseus to stand before the doors, facing away from them. Leaning onto his front legs, he lashed out with his hind legs to send the doors flying open. As soon as his hooves connected, he jumped aside while Perseus and Kushiel swung around the sides of the door frame.

As Cerberus had reported, six terrorists stood on the other side in their lightweight, purple armor. They all had looks of shock and surprise as they turned to the double doors. One reacted faster than the others and was able to raise her hoof-held rifle before one of the Titans' rounds tore through her armor and dug into her body.

Four more fell in quick succession. The surviving two were able to fall back to cover and protect themselves from Alpha's fire. On the right side of the room, Perseus could see Bravo engaging a hefty amount of terrorists with their carbines.

Bullets zinged by, forcing the Solar soldier back into cover. Before he was fully in cover, he felt something slam into his shoulder. Teeth clenched from the pain, he looked down, fearing the worst. He saw that the plate over his shoulder had buckled inward but was otherwise intact. _That was close._

"Achilles!" he shouted, looking at said pony.

"Got it!" he shouted back as he drew a cylindrical device from his armor with one hoof. With a cry of "Frag out!" he armed and tossed the device behind the crates the two terrorists were using for cover. The gunfire was replaced by yelling before a boom resounded from the other side of the door.

"Forward!" Perseus cried as he rushed through the door into the bedlam. Rounds still zipped by his form but he was able to get to a pile of crates unharmed. As he had ran though, he had kicked a terrorist rifle to the crates he had chosen for cover. Once behind the crates, the Solar Colonel picked up the rifle in his hooves. It was an unusual feeling as the weapon seemed to cause his right hoof to tingle. With the tingling came a feeling of ghost appendages wrapping around the rifle's grip and settling upon the trigger.

_Huh, _was his only thought as he sat on his haunches to look over the crates. Bringing the rifle to his shoulder like he had seen the terrorists do, he looked down the sights at one hostile that was firing at Bravo. When it settled on the target, Perseus 'flexed' his ghost appendage. With a bang, the weapon kicked back into his shoulder as the round spun toward the target. It dug into the hostile, causing him to fall down in agony from the wound. Lining up the sights again, Perseus fired and ended the mare's life.

The battle continued for what felt like hours as the two groups traded fire in the crate filled warehouse. Though the Guardians had numbers and could effectively fire from cover, the Titan squad still gained ground, pushing the terrorists further back against the office door.

Finally, the last terrorist outside the office was downed, allowing the Solar team to charge the room. Perseus, having ditched the hostile rifle to be able to run comfortably, wasted no time in barging through the door. He was met with two Guardians aiming rifles at him. Behind the Guardian terrorists was a dark red unicorn who was using his magic to manipulate a shotgun.

Rolling behind a filing cabinet, Perseus barely avoided the hail of lead that raced toward him.

"Buck!" he shouted as he tried to make himself as small as possible.

"You think you can take me Solars?" shouted the unicorn, "You got another thing coming!"

A lull in the gunfire allowed Perseus to lean around the corner and fire at one of the Guardians. The rounds connected and brought the offending shooter to the floor in a heap. The Solar's victory was short-lived though as a familiar cylindrical object bounced off the wall beside him. Reacting quickly, Perseus kicked the grenade out of his cover before ducking down. The explosion rocked the room and Perseus heard the screaming of what he hoped was the other Guardian.

Peeking out, he saw that both terrorists were now down, leaving only the arms dealer behind the desk at the other end of the room. The arms dealer growled as he looked at his dead bodyguards.

"You were wrong to come here Solars!" he shouted as the assault rifles of his guards flew up, also wrapped in the red glow of his magic, "Die!"

Perseus drew his head back as all three weapons roared, pounding into, and sometimes, through the filing cabinet. The gunfire seemed to last for hours before silence finally returned with three satisfying clicks. In the silence, the breaking of a window seemed to be just as loud as gunfire.

Hearing struggle, Perseus came out from cover to see Cerberus standing behind the desk with a sneer on his face.

"About time you shut the buck up," he cursed as Perseus walked over. Looking down, he saw that their target was out cold with blood leaking from his nose. Looking up at his XO, the Colonel nodded.

"Right, well. Let's move out, we need to get him to the train station now."

"Copy that," Cerberus replied in a low growl as he still looked at the unconscious red unicorn.

Not seven minutes later, the seven shadows returned to the streets of Crystal City. Keeping to the outskirts, they moved toward the train station that lay outside of the city to the south. It still lay within the shield dome, though, which was a blessing in itself.

Should one have seen the shadows, they would have noticed that one of them had a dark red unicorn draped over his cloaked back.

_**A/N: And there's the end of the Solar team sub-plot. ...at least that one.**_

_**Next chapter will continue with Meteor squad and Captain Prowler himself.**_

_**Questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.**_

_**Titans belong to Chief Wolfee**_

_**Nova (Arms Dealer) belongs to Lightning the Alicorn**_


	7. Chapter 7

**User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)**

**Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R7-\**

**Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R8-\**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\**

_Where was I? Ah, right, our deployment. After the leave in the city, Grit had tossed our flanks back onto our Hawk and sent us to Hollow Shades, situated west of Manehatten and Fillydelphia. The village itself was small and, honestly, not very important to Equestrian culture._

_It was a good thing it wasn't important, for the war tore apart the basin that it resided in. All that's left now is empty trenches, craters, and numerous graves, some of which are unmarked. In fact, they're still pulling bodies and bones out of collapsed bunkers and mass grave sites._

_That's where we were sent. A pony-made place of nightmare. What was our task there? "Assist local forces in pushing back the Imperial aggressors and collect any intel that you come across."_

_Grit translation: "Get out of my mane!"_

_Yep. Did I mention I hated her?_

**.**

**.**

**.**

**/-END AUDIO LOG-\**

A week. That's how long we have been in this Luna forsaken basin. A week of constant shelling and machine-gun fire. A week of failed strikes against the Imperials. A week of defense against their attacks. A week.

"I'm going to kill Grit," Surprise intoned suddenly.

"No you ain't," Bale replied as she played chess against Ice Mist, who had also been assigned to the destroyed basin. This had been a shock to the team, but it was especially a shock to Jetstream. Of course, the mare didn't disapprove of it. Jet had actually told the team the night before heading back that her and Ice were a couple. Her nineteenth one, as Cable had pointed out and was subsequently hit by the four mares for.

"At least," began Prowler, who was looking over a map of the basin that had troop positions drawn on top of it, "not in real life."

"Yeah. In my mind, I've already killed her fifty-eight times," Jagged added from where she sat beside Prowler, also looking over the map, "Each way different than the last."

"Cover her in jewels, drop her into a Diamond Dog den and watch her get torn apart," Cable stated from where he sat, manipulating the hard-case covered computer on his foreleg.

"Fifty-nine," Jagged announced with a smirk. A chuckle swept through the bunker that Meteor squad, and Ice Mist, had claimed as their home. It was barely able to house them comfortably but being comfortable was the least of their worries. Staying alive kind of overrode comfort.

"What would you do to her if you could Ice?" Gazer asked from where she sat next to Bale and Ice, watching their game with interest.

Ice chuckled before speaking, "Take a carbine, shove it up her rear as far as I can and depress the trigger 'til I run out of ammo," he paused as he moved a pawn forward, "then reload and fire again."

Stunned silence filled the bunker as the six members of Meteor looked at their sniper attache with jaws slack. Surprise was the first to laugh with the others following suit soon after, their jovial laughter spilling from the bunker and undoubtedly drawing looks from nearby infantryponies.

"Honestly," Bale began, wiping tears from her eyes, "I thought it was gonna have something to do with your sniper rifle."

"Nah, she's not worth _Blizzard_'s attention," Ice replied evenly.

"You named your rifle?" Cable asked, not sounding the least bit surprised. They all knew that troopers occasionally named their weapons, especially snipers and heavy troopers, however it was from conversation's sake more than anything.

"Yep. She's taken care of me since she was first given to me."

"She? Better not let Jet find out you're with another mare," Jagged warned playfully.

"She already knows I've named my rifle," Ice stated with a slight blush on his cheeks from Jet's name being mentioned.

"Knowing Jet, she'd have probably just tried to invite her for a threesome anyway," Surprise joked before holding a hoof out to Cable, who he was seated close to. A couple seconds passed with Cable not averting his gaze from the small computer, "Oh come on, give me some fur. Don't leave me hanging."

Cable sighed and rolled his eyes before reaching out and reluctantly putting his hoof against Surprise's. Taking the half-hearted hoof bump, Surprise retracted his leg with a simple nod.

"Cable, what are you even looking at?" Gazer asked as she walked over to her coltfriend to look over his shoulder. When she did, Cable got up, turned so Gazer was in front of him, and sat back down.

"You know I hate people reading over my shoulder," he explained, "And I'm looking at the roster and manifest for the local forces. Our forces currently comprise of Second and Third Company from the Twenty-Fifth Lunar Brigade. Second Company is currently operating at sixty-one percent combat readiness while Third Company is operating at a mere thirty-seven percent."

"Thirty-seven percent?" Prowler asked, looking up from the map. He knew that Third Company was underponied but to hear the actual percentage...

"Correct. However, we have enough guns, vehicles, food, and ammunition to keep three _full _companies fat and happy for a month."

"Logistics mistake?" Bale questioned as she knocked aside one of Ice's pawns with a bishop.

"Possibly," Cable replied, "or High Command knew this stalemate would happen and wanted the Second and Third fully stocked to withstand a long duration of fighting."

"Why would High Command automatically anticipate a stalemate? Were they hoping for failure?" Ice asked as he avenged his fallen pawn.

"Very likely," Cable simply stated.

"Remember where we are," Jagged stated, "this basin can allow us to control the main roads and rails that lead to Canterlot. If they fall here, Canterlot itself will be in our sights."

"Anypony else wonder what they're going to do when this is all over?" Ice asked after the silence had dragged too long. Despite make conversation like he had wanted and expected. Instead, the silence just seemed to thicken in the bunker with everypony lost in thought. What would they do after the war? What _could _they do?

Even if they did find jobs that matched their talents, would they seriously be able to acclimate to the life of a normal civilian? Would they honestly be able to forget about the war and live life like it had never happened? No; they all knew they wouldn't. They couldn't; not after good ponies have given their lives for this war.

Before the silence could be called awkward, a loud boom permeated the bunker as loose dirt fell from the ceiling. After the boom of the artillery shell, the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns began their song of death. Under the rattling machine guns, one could hear orders being shouted and hooves stomping against the trench floors.

"No rest for the wicked," Prowler muttered as he stood and levitated his assault rifle to him. Wearing nothing but his torso armor, he was a long-shot from the fully-armored, hooded appearance that Night Shadows regularly took. In these woods, though, wearing all that would have you dying from heat stroke.

It was only a half a minute before the rest of the team had their weapons ready. Like Prowler, most of them forsook everything but their torso plates and HUD system. The only one wearing something more was Ice Mist who wore his bandanna underneath a hood.

Funneling out of the bunker, they were immediately swept into the angry tide of ponies rushing one way or the other down the trench line. Infantryponies getting to position, couriers running messages, supply ponies hauling ammo, they all pushed to get to their destination faster. Just on the other side of the tide of ponies was what many referred to as 'The Battlements'.

The Battlements was an elevated dirt stretch that allowed a combat pony to aim their over the edge of the trench and fire at any attackers. Like the battlements on ancient castles, some wooden sections rose from the lip of the trench to allow the defenders to slip into cover when necessary. It was on this stretch, that Meteor squad stepped up and looked out into No Pony's Land.

Smoke rose from the ground itself, it seemed, but the unmistakable silhouettes of ponies could be seen in the smoke. Most fell in the smoke, their silhouettes disappearing from view. Others broke the smoke, wearing the golden combat armor of the Solar Empire. Those that broke the smoke fell shortly after doing so, screams of agony replacing war cries.

Meteor squad wasted no time in getting to the Battlements just across from their bunker. Joining the infantryponies already there, the squad began to open fire on the approaching Imperial forces. Each muzzle flash signified another fallen Imperial as they charged at the Lunar lines.

The fighting wasn't one-sided, however. Lunar soldiers began to drop from the Battlements, wounded or dead Prowler couldn't tell. A flash of light in the smoke caught Prowler's attention. The stallion followed it when it began to move. Within a second, it erupted from the smoke in the form of a rocket. It screamed through the air before slamming into a Lunar fortification to Meteor's left. The explosion sent a colorful mix of wood, dirt, fire, and blood into the air.

Turning his attention back on the front, Prowler continued to pick off target after target with his rifle. A resounding boom next to him accompanied the decapitation of an Imperial soldier. Beside Prowler, Ice smirked as his rifle's firing mechanism cycled a fresh round into the chamber. As soon as the bolt locked into place, Ice depressed the trigger with his magic and caused another Imperial to fall to the ground without their head.

A yellow light snapped into existence behind the Night Shadows. Spinning around, Surprise was the first to recognize what it was.

"Blinker!" he shouted as he turned and fired on the handful of Imperial soldiers that had suddenly appeared on the other side of the trench. In the middle of the group of soldiers was a unicorn with a golden hood over his head. The Imperial mage had teleported himself and his allies behind the Lunar lines in a gambit to break them.

Prowler spun around in time to be tackled by a knife wielding mare. Bringing her head up, she had every intention to plant the knife held in her mouth into Prowler's throat. Punching out with his hoof, Prowler caught the mare in her own throat. The shock from the hit caused her to stumble back and, at the same time, drop the knife. Wrapping his magic around the knife's hilt, Prowler drove the serrated blade into the enemy's chest. The body dropped to the dirt, spasmed once, and then stilled forever.

The spasm was lost on Prowler as he pushed himself back to all fours. With his rifle lost after the impact with the mare, Prowler drew his pistol and began to fire at the Imperial Blink group. They fell quickly under the combined fire but not without taking down a few Lunar soldiers. The forest, or what was left of it, was beginning to run red with blood as the Imperial mage teleported again.

"Surprise!" Prowler shouted. Said unicorn had his horn aglow immediately after the departure of the mage.

"Got his trail!" Surprise shouted. Every time a unicorn teleported, they left a thin trail in the magical realm, detectable only by trained unicorns. It was this trail that Surprise had found and followed to the Imperial's exit point. Using this trail, Surprise sent two armed grenades traveling through the magical realm to come out at the exact same point the Imperial mage did. The effects of the grenades would be unknown but it was the effort that counted in this case.

With the Blink group dispatched, Prowler turned around to the smoke-filled No Pony's Land. The smoke was dissipating now and the amount of Imperials had followed. With the attack coming to an end, Prowler looked for and found his rifle. Picking up the weapon, he shook off the mud that had gotten on it before firing at the remaining golden-armored troopers.

An unsure amount of time, it surely felt like hours to Prowler, after the beginning of the assault, the Lunar soldiers found themselves alone in their trenchline. No more Imperials charged at them and the silence was deafening. No pony cheered as they all knew that another attack would undoubtedly come tomorrow or that they would be forced into a charge by their commanders.

"Meteor, sound off!" Prowler shouted as he kept his eyes glued to the battlefield.

"Okay," Jagged called back.

"Ready for more," Surprise shouted.

Similar sayings were echoed by the rest of the squad, Ice included. With his squad accounted for, Prowler lowered his rifle and allowed a small smile to grace his lips. They had all survived another day. Bloodied and dirtied, no doubt, but they had all survived.

_That in itself is a blessing from Luna, _Prowler thought as he and his squad stepped back from the Battlements.

_**A/N: Here y'all go. Sorry for the wait, I got distracted by... well... a lot of things. For one, I am currently in Eatonville, Washington (far from home) due to the memorial services for my granddad.**_

_**Also, in case you haven't noticed, I've changed my pen name to ShieldedSpectre-Sandstorm Ink. It won't stay like that, though. About a week from now, I will change it to Sandstorm Inkwell to match the name of my OC. Any concerns about this should be addressed to me via Private Messages.**_

_**Anyway; as usual: questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.**_


End file.
